Cabinet doors for cabinets generally must be individually adjusted to compensate for manufacturing tolerances. Adjustment is generally required in more than one dimension. If the door has two or more hinges, as is usually the case, adjustment must be carried out on each hinge with respect to the other hinges. A “vertical adjustment” is required when the door does not seat properly with respect to the top and bottom of the cabinet frame. An “overlay adjustment” is a horizontal adjustment required when the door does not properly align with the sides of the cabinet frame.
Prior art hinges suffer from various disadvantages including difficulty in installation, difficulty of adjustment, instability of the adjustments made, complicated construction and high manufacturing costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,591 to Domenig et al. discloses a low profile, partial door overlay hinge having a hinge cup, an intermediate base hinge and top hinge arm segments. In order to accomplish an overlay adjustment, this device requires a complicated assembly necessitating several assembly connection points. Further, cam screws and eccentric screws are required to effectuate the adjustments. All of the above increases the manufacturing complexity and cost of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,567 to Domenig et al. discloses an overlay hinge having a hinge cup, a base hinge arm segment and an L-shaped hinge arm segment. This device requires multiple plate hinge arm segments to achieve the overlay adjustment capability. The device of the '567 patent also requires multiple intricate and expensive pieces requiring complex assembly steps and hardware to function as an adjustable hinge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,493 to Youngdale discloses a “pocket” hinge assembly including a cup mounted within a pocket formed in a cabinet door and an arcuate shaped, flexible base attached to the cabinet frame that allows two perpendicular adjustments. The horizontal adjustments are made by tightening or loosening a mounting screw which flattens or releases the arcuate shaped base. The Youngdale device requires the overlay adjustment to be actuated by a wood screw also used for mounting the hinge arm to the cabinet frame. Repeated adjustment of the wood screw results in an unstable mounting. The dual functionality of the wood screw also requires that the wood screw be larger than would otherwise be required, thereby limiting its use to cabinets having sufficient dimensions to support the larger screw sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. Re 34,995 to Domenig discloses an adjustable recessed door hinge having a hinge cup in a bore in a door member and a hinge arm securable to a cabinet member. The hinge cup has two slotted holes for receiving attaching screws that guide displacement of the hinge cup for a side-to-side adjustment. The invention of the '995 patent requires the adjustment of at least two mounting screws per hinge used to mount the hinge cup in order to effectuate an overlay adjustment. After repeated adjustment as is required to secure and adjust a door, the fit of newly inserted screws becomes unstable which ultimately results in an insecure mounting of the door on the cabinet.